Spawn's quest to find a Cerbera

[Spawn]

Hello all


For those of you who have followed a couple of posts of mine, I have now sold my 200sx and have 13k (plus 3k extra if needed) burning a hole in my pocket.

No need to rush as I have no 'need' for a car at present.

Does anybody know Alan Mcdonalds Sports Cars in Edinburgh? Anybody had any experience?
This is miles away from me but if I have to travel I will.. quite liking the looks of this: http://users.autoexposure.co.uk/drilldown.cfm?Acco...

If anybody has any information on the company or even the car that would be hugely appreciated.

I will be calling tomorrow regarding a viewing if possible.

Rob

[ironictwist]

All the best Rob, keep us posted on how it all goes. Gonna be a fun ride im sure!

[Rude]

I have been to see Alan a few times. I got the sense that some of the cars were overpriced. Alan used to be a 'proper' dealer so ought to know his cars. You will not get much of a warranty so I would look privately as well. He had an old 4.2 in for a while which I looked at but it was a bit scrappy IMHO. This may be it...
Good luck. I'm still looking.

[mxi933]

Hi Rob.
Theres a certain trepidation whilst typing this but if you are interested in a known 4.2 that had a full engine rebuild 6k miles ago and has been serviced and maintained by Silverstone Performance ever since - send me a PM. Its Purple by the way.

[FUBAR]

mxi933 said:

Its Purple by the way.

Id get a doctor to look at that if I was you...sounds nasty

[brogenville]

Alan McDonald cars is just along the road from me, and as such that was where I went to see my first cerbera. I wasn't in a position to buy one at that exact time, but the guy I spoke to there seemed really keen to have me along anyway, and whilst I was there I did get the sense that they were knowledgeable people that wanted to sell good cars. When I was there a little later, they had another cerbera in that was getting prepped before sale, and they showed me a long list of items that they were putting right before selling the car. Whilst I never bought a car from them in the end, I would have been happy that they would have given me a good one. As it happens, I also know of a couple of people who have gone back to Alan a few times, so he cant be all bad.

Hope this helps Rob- as another "young" cerbera owner, I'm keen to see how you get on. There's too many old fogies driving these cars!!!

[Mr M]

brogenville said:

There's too many old fogies driving these cars!!!

"Savage.. you're a bigot".

PS From the pics that Cerb looks pretty tidy..Engine bay too. I'd take it for a drive.

Edited by Mr M on Wednesday 27th February 15:24

[central]

mxi933 and Spawn - YHM

[pcowen]

You could buy mine!

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/268770.htm

[Spawn]

Rude said:

He had an old 4.2 in for a while which I looked at but it was a bit scrappy IMHO. This may be it...

There is a link above, surely you have a good idea whether this is the one or not? Thanks for the info though.

brogenville said:

Alan McDonald cars is just along the road from me, and as such that was where I went to see my first cerbera. I wasn't in a position to buy one at that exact time, but the guy I spoke to there seemed really keen to have me along anyway, and whilst I was there I did get the sense that they were knowledgeable people that wanted to sell good cars. When I was there a little later, they had another cerbera in that was getting prepped before sale, and they showed me a long list of items that they were putting right before selling the car. Whilst I never bought a car from them in the end, I would have been happy that they would have given me a good one. As it happens, I also know of a couple of people who have gone back to Alan a few times, so he cant be all bad.

That sounds promising and would tie in with todays conversation I had with Alan.

[Spawn]

Hi all

Today I have contacted Alan of Alan Macdonald Sports Cars - He still has the Cerbera (linked in the first post).

I explained my situation to him regarding distance from him and my age etc, which he seemed to appreciate.
Alan gave me a few details beside what is in the Ad(s);

• 3 previous owners
• Alan has sold the car twice (I believe he said twice) in the past so he knows the car well
• Servicing has been done on miles and on time (one year the car did 200 - 300 miles and was still serviced after a specific time period (as it should be as I far as I am concerned)).
• Alan has all old MOT's etc

I asked Alan about the general condition of the car itself (exterior) after going through the list of servicing etc. He assured me that the car is in good condition for the age. Alan assures me I would not be disappointed if I were to come and view (obviously I wouldn't want to go all that way to view a bag of nails).

I asked about a few silly things like the doors not opening etc, and Alan did say he had a problem with the door not responding upon pressing the button however this has happened to him only the once and has not happened since (he seemed to be quite honest about this and answered all question without hesitation).

I stated that if I was to come take a look, I would then send an independent TVR Specialist/engineer to give the Cerb the once over if I like what I see, which Alan is more than happy for me to go ahead with (this has to be a good sign?).

He would also deliver directly to me if things go that far.





I was quite impressed by what he had to say, I have viewed a couple before now and he seemed much more knowledgeable than other 'salesmen' that I have spoken to.
I have told him I would like to take a look so I may now arrange to head over one weekend soon.

So, do you think its worth going to take a look? all sounds good to me so far. I may drive up and make a road trip of it, stay overnight somewhere.


Price, spec, even colour (very much like this colour scheme) are all spot on for what I am looking for, so far so good but any information you lot is always appreciated!

Rob

[petclub]

Rob, it's sounding good. YHM from me from earlier on.

Also, be warned about the doors. There is a manual opening method and you need to make sure they work. The dealer will show you where and how. Dave

[Nicholas Blair]

Bought a Chim from Alan way back in the Brandon days of 2000.

First run in a Cerb with him back in '94, down the City by-pass too.

Top bloke but couldn't make an honest living from selling just TVR's, and yes perhaps they are overpriced compared to the rest of the market.

If you need any help, feel free to email me.

Good luck

Nick

[ironictwist]

pcowen said:

You could buy mine!

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/268770.htm

O/T but...

God that would slip into my budget for a Chim...Gorgeous!

[Allandwf]

Hi,
I went to look at that, it's reasonable with a couple of niggles, window control box and windscreen delamination at the edges being the worse.He's fairly rigid on price, but you can get a warranty from him.
Just picked up mine yesterday woo hoooo !!!

[alinton]

Congrats and enjoy! Post a pic here soon as!

A.

[Spawn]

Allandwf said:

Hi,
I went to look at that, it's reasonable with a couple of niggles, window control box and windscreen delamination at the edges being the worse.He's fairly rigid on price, but you can get a warranty from him.
Just picked up mine yesterday woo hoooo !!!

Hi Allandwf

Useful information - Would you mind if I we're to give you a quick call? If not or you're busy I shall email you later on

[touching cloth]

If I had £13k to spend on a Cerb right now, I would be snapping this up.

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/337940.htm

It's a known car on here both with the current owner and in the more long term under the ownership of MrMop, who lavished money on it whenever required, seen it in the flesh once and it is a beauty. Not 100% if I would keep running 19's on it, but not hard to knock some SP or Spiders back on if you felt that way (and I am sure the 19's would fetch a pretty penny themselves) the car is still worth £13k every day of the week. Having said that, pcowen's black one also looks like a cracking buy (I actually know someone who keeps eyeing it up, then tells me he is not ready to buy quite yet the fool).
The Edinburgh may well be a good buy, the chap sounds honest enough, but I would prefer to actually know the heritage of the car, warranty advantage of a dealer or not.

[Spawn]

Nicholas Blair said:

Top bloke but couldn't make an honest living from selling just TVR's, and yes perhaps they are overpriced compared to the rest of the market.

If you need any help, feel free to email me.

Hi Nick

Thanks for the information - from what he has said and I can see, price seems reasonable to me, but maybe I lack experience in this area?

Sounds like you are happy with the service he provided though? I can't say I've heard any major negative comments so far.


Also regarding the doors sticking/window control box, I'll do a search tonight to see what problems others have had and how easy/difficult this is to resolve - I am not at home right now so can not do so, so if anyone has any experience with this problem let me know.

Rob

[Spawn]

touching cloth said:

If I had £13k to spend on a Cerb right now, I would be snapping this up.

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/337940.htm

I would need something a little more standard for insurance purposes really.